ajerm9

Thanks everyone for responding, love hearing all the different backgrounds and how people went about. I may not go LPN, May just go either straight to ASN (eventual bridge to BSN) or do CNA for experience then do ASN or BSN. Going to talk to an entrance counselor at the school I'm looking at. My grades for my geology degree were very low (there were medical and personal reasons behind them) which concerns me regarding ability to be accepted into a program. My eventual mid term goal is to earn either ASN/BSN, gain experience in a hospital setting for a few years then focus on occupational health. My background in environmental work that I have enjoyed deals a good bit with investigating toxicological effects. Toxicological effects on humans and other living things. Occupational health nurse uses some of that knowledge and considers it in the context of work place exposure. Not set in stone, but that's my current thought.

Thank you for your responses. FWIW, I'm single with no children and worked while in undergraduate anywhere from 15-30 hrs/wk during the semesters. While I was finishing up my last class for my B.S. I was working full time, worked a second pt job (16 hrs) on the weekend while taking a 3 hour class and I know what people mean by dedication, organization and "wanting it". Lots of things to look into, I truly appreciate everyone's responses from such a wide range of backgrounds!!

I am 95% certain that I'm going to pursue the LPN certificate at a local community college in 2015. I have a B.S. in geology and have worked in the environmental field for a number of years but for various reasons am strongly looking towards the LPN and eventually the ASN route. The area where I live has a number of jobs for both LPN & RN via ASN. I realize I could go straight to the ASN route but I really am leaning towards LPN first to gain practical experience before sinking time and money into an ASN. The LPN program classes when school is in session run from roughly 7:30 am to 3 pm Mon-Friday for the first two semesters. Seems like the third semester is maybe (can't remember exactly) similar hours but only 3 or 4 days a week for a shorter summer session. I spoke with a rep at the community college I'm considering RE: working while in school and she indicated that they strongly recommend students not work or try to limit to a job to part-time. Did your LPN school have a similar class schedule? Did you work while in school? Just curious more than anything.